Rewiring Anxiety, Anger and Trauma with Craig Meriwether

In this fascinating episode of the SuperSelf Podcast Series, Pete Ferrari sits down with clinical and medical hypnotherapist Craig Meriwether to separate therapeutic hypnosis from the stage tricks, swinging watches, mind control, and movie nonsense that have shaped how most people see it. With more than 20 years of experience helping people work through anxiety, stress, anger, insecurity, fear, and trauma, Craig explains that hypnotherapy is not about giving someone else control of your mind. It is about reclaiming control from the automatic patterns, emotional triggers, and protective responses that may already be running your life. Together, Pete and Craig explore how past experiences can condition the nervous system to respond as though an old threat is still happening today. Pete opens up about the rage that protected him through childhood trauma but has sometimes worked against him later in life, while Craig explains why anger, anxiety, and fear are not inherently bad. They are protective responses that may simply need to be updated when they are no longer appropriate for the present moment. From the placebo effect and subconscious patterns to brainwave states, visualisation, breathwork, bilateral stimulation, and nervous system regulation, this episode offers a practical and grounded look at how the mind can influence the body. This is not about erasing your past or pretending difficult emotions do not exist. It is about understanding why your mind learned to protect you in a certain way—and discovering that you may now have the power to choose a different response. **Episode Highlights:** - 05:12 – Is hypnosis real, or is it just a rehearsed stage trick? - 09:05 – Why hypnosis cannot force someone to do something they do not want to do - 17:27 – How ordinary daydreaming and automatic driving resemble altered states of awareness - 30:13 – Why the mind can react physically to imagined danger - 37:36 – When someone should consider trying hypnotherapy - 54:07 – Box breathing and the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding method for anxiety **Key Takeaways:** - Hypnotherapy is not mind control. - You may already be “hypnotised” by your own patterns. - The subconscious mind is focused on safety, not necessarily happiness. - You cannot always think your way out of an emotional pattern. <!--THE END--> - Stress and fear still serve an important purpose. The goal is not to remove every uncomfortable emotion. <!--THE END--> - Healing does not mean forgetting what happened. The goal is not to erase memories or create amnesia. It is to reduce the emotional charge attached to the past so that the experience no longer dictates every present-day response. **About the Guest:** Craig Meriwether is a clinical and medical hypnotherapist with more than 20 years of experience helping people address anxiety, stress, trauma, fear, insecurity, anger, confidence, and unwanted emotional patterns. After experiencing significant anxiety and depression during his own teenage years, Craig became deeply involved in personal development and began researching tools that could support lasting emotional change. His journey eventually led him to hypnotherapy, first through his own healing and later through professional training. Craig is a bestselling contributing author to Pearls of Wisdom and the creator of Depression 180, a collection of resources, exercises, recordings, and workbooks developed to help people better understand and work through depression and related emotional challenges. Today, Craig primarily works one-to-one with clients through online hypnotherapy sessions, allowing him to support people across the United States and around the world. Connect with Craig Meriwether: - Website - Facebook - YouTube - Instagram - LinkedIn *This episode is brought to you by Jaca Rare Sugar.* Jaca is a revolutionary, rare sugar called allulose with 0 net carbs, 0 glycemic index (diabetic & keto friendly), and 90% fewer calories than sugar. Jaca tastes, cooks and bakes like old school sugar with none of the harmful effects.  www.jacasugar.com